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Language Barriers:
These have been documented for quite some time. The Brazilian getting mad at the English noob. The French rising up against the Germans. We definitely have a multilingual community here at AC.
From the Forum Rules by Zarj
Quote:8. We understand that english is not the first language to many of our users, but do your best to use English (if possible), proper spelling, grammar, etc.
Well what happens if the speaker does not know English at all, or very little? Is it really fair to let them struggle? And us as well (the Anglophones), we can't understand the meaning.
I think there should be more done to accommodate these things. Example: Letting them post their version of their text in English, and a copy in their native language. We get translators (human and machine) and we help each other.
http://forum.cubers.net/thread-3193.html
Example.
What do we think?
This could also be used as a linguistic help thread. We'll wait and see.
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I kinda disagree with you, as rare as it may seem I think AC ha helped me a lot to improve my knowledge of other languages, not just english, but also a little bit of portuguese(?), some French, and even my own language from people from other countries.
It may seen like a barrier, but I see it as an opportunity to teach and learn from eachother, nver the less, there's always someone willing to translate to someone else, but I see your point.
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29 May 11, 09:15AM
(This post was last modified: 29 May 11, 12:17PM by DogDancing.)
I see your point, as you said we have a large multitude of people here from all over the world. But since we have so many if they were aloud to just post topics in there native tongue we would have chaos and disorganization. Every few topics would be a different language which only a small group of ac can speak. But having said that I do think they need a place to speak there native tongue if they can't speak English at all which is the case probably more than we think. And I think people who can't speak English well, do post in there native language and try in English/use a translator..they do both.
One thing we could do is make a forum/sub forum with only non English speakers. Maybe just one in the help forum so that people who do come to this site to ask a question aren't totally in the dark. But I don't think its necessary to have everyone speaking in the native language indiscriminately because it would just cause more back up and problems than it already does.
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I think there is no need to make a section for every language... There are 3 main languages in AC besides English: Portuguese, French and German. A fourth section could be about "Other languages".
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I don't think you even have to make more than one section, just have all Non English language help questions In one little sub forum.
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29 May 11, 01:45PM
(This post was last modified: 29 May 11, 01:47PM by macm.)
I am Portuguese and speak english enough to be understood, but i know alot of Brasilians and people from other countries that that don't.
Google chrome always opens a tab where i can choose if i want the content of the page translated.
Ohh and btw, ac has a translator, the "/gettext" command, but i cant get it to work, someone told me i have to change something in the source...
A default commad to change the translation (from - to) would be very helpfull and much appreciated.
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Sorry for not being clear, but I didn't mean more than one section. All I meant was that a person who doesn't speak English could type the meaning in English, and then in their Native language, not in different sections, just in the same thread. But a non-English speaking thing would be cool.
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29 May 11, 02:43PM
(This post was last modified: 29 May 11, 02:43PM by flowtron.)
I was actually hoping this thread would be about using gettext for i18n in AssaultCube. A translation of the entire HTML-documentation might even be considered - at some point - the wiki is on a good way toward proper i18n.
Anway; if someone knows, and they should know, that their english isn't good enough for discussing the issues, then they should themselves take measures to help others to help them. Ask questions, smart addresses many issues here; specificically regarding the non-native english-speakers that post here I would suggest they simply post an automatic translation of their mother-tongue explanation; try to phrase it in their own english and attach the mother-tongue paragraph... After that it still remains to be seen if they followed the other precepts of Ask questions, smart - if they were clear and if someone can tell them clearly how to fix it.
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(29 May 11, 02:43PM)flowtron Wrote: I was actually hoping this thread would be about using gettext for i18n in AssaultCube.
I've never heard of it. What is it?
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29 May 11, 05:22PM
(This post was last modified: 29 May 11, 05:27PM by tempest.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_gettext
So basically, it allows for convenient translation of any text in AC (e.g. "Quit", "Could not connect", etc.). Currently, only a german translation is available, but feel free to help ;)
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I still don't get how to use it in AC. -.-
Seems like an AWESOME idea though
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I tend to agree -- if not for AC, I wouldn't know the meaning of the word "foda!"
At any rate, Cemer, the rule you quoted contains the answer to your question:
Quote:(if possible)
Thus, when using English just isn't possible or feasible, the next available language is acceptable, especially since we have the ability to use Google translate if we are particularly eager to help.
I'd like to add that, if a non-English language is necessary, proper grammar and spelling is even more imperative than when using English, just so the translation engines don't shrug and give odd results.
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(30 May 11, 06:24PM)V-Man Wrote: At any rate, Cemer, the rule you quoted contains the answer to your question:
Quote:(if possible)
But some people still say: speak in English.
Err... Lantry, what was the link for?
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Because it is a good example of the ability of the members of this forum to communicate with people who don't know english very well.
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(30 May 11, 09:13PM)Lantry Wrote: Because it is a good example of the ability of the members of this forum to communicate with people who don't know english very well.
It is. Can't deny that. Next time, be clearer. My noob brain didn't understand the message T.T
Me and V-Man were talking about it a little. The idea (see thread top) is based of our talk and his help with cartouche. AC be good.
Lantry, if you can find me two more, I'll re-edit the thread header/top. :D
How is the /gettext used?
V-Man Wrote:...if a non-English language is necessary, proper grammar and spelling is even more imperative than when using English...
Yeah. I agree.
tempest Wrote:So basically, it allows for convenient translation of any text in AC (e.g. "Quit", "Could not connect", etc.).
That's awesome. Is there a list of words or phrases that can be translated?
tempest Wrote:Currently, only a german translation is available...
T.T CeW is lucky.
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30 May 11, 11:05PM
(This post was last modified: 30 May 11, 11:07PM by Alien.)
"i am alien i am a legal alien woooho i am Czechman in AC tududu .."
ps. English in AC is an opportunity to improve, not the problem ;)
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(30 May 11, 09:57PM)Cemer Wrote: That's awesome. Is there a list of words or phrases that can be translated?
http://actiongame.svn.sourceforge.net/vi...xt%2Fplain , but more (especially menu items) could be added.
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Technical information: This needs to be updated regularly though; especially when new elements are added - which needs to happen in a big way once we actually use it for more than the proof-of-concept german-translation. Any CubeScript or CodeSequence can become translateable by adding the "_(STRING)"-wrapper around it.
Also - when someone works on this, it'd be a good idea to document the caveats and other helpful information on the wiki-page for I18N. Basically it will be enough though for some native-speaker to pick out the messages, translate them and pass them on to a programmer, who will probably have less issue with the caveats concerning format-strings .. this might be too much for someone not versed in code-logic.
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Or DL google Chrome and let the pages translate automatically ( basically google translate )
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(31 May 11, 05:57PM)flowtron Wrote: Technical information: This needs to be updated regularly though; especially when new elements are added - which needs to happen in a big way once we actually use it for more than the proof-of-concept german-translation. Any CubeScript or CodeSequence can become translateable by adding the "_(STRING)"-wrapper around it.
Also - when someone works on this, it'd be a good idea to document the caveats and other helpful information on the wiki-page for I18N. Basically it will be enough though for some native-speaker to pick out the messages, translate them and pass them on to a programmer, who will probably have less issue with the caveats concerning format-strings .. this might be too much for someone not versed in code-logic.
...
* Cemer clicks Simple English *
Uhh... I'ma learn CubeScript for this. T.T
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